The name Hamas is an acronym of an Arabic name which translates as Islamic Resistance Movement. Hamas is also an Arabic word which means 'enthusiasm' or 'religious zeal'.
Hamas was first established in 1987 and its origins are in the much older Egyptian movement, the Muslim Brotherhood (this is an international movement which goes back to 1928).
Hamas was founded as part of the intifada, which means uprising, that started in the late 1980s and involved widespread resistance among Palestinians to the Israeli occupation. Its main founders were Ahmed Yassin and Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi, and at its foundation the aim of Hamas was to end the Israeli occupation and ultimately to turn Israel into an Islamic state. Since becoming the elected government of the Gaza territory in 2006, there have been changes in this position and there have been negotiations with Israel, though at present the fighting in Gaza has resumed.